Stenciling machine



Sept. 16, 1924. 1,508,669

H. RABEZZANA STENCILING MACHINE Filed Anril 29, 1922 2 SheetsfSheet l 2@ uumwl. ai@

g1/wanton Y l H. RABEZZANA v STENCILING MACHINE l Filed April 29, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Wi y2 zo l i vw'ayntoz Patented Sept. 16, 1924.

STATES 'PATENT OFFICE.

HECTOR RABEZZANA, OF lFLINT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR T0 A C SPARK, PLUG COM- PANY, OF FLINT, MICHIGAN, .A CORPORATION OF MICHIGAN.

STENCILING MACHINE.

Application led April 29, 1922. Serial No. 557,276.

To aZZ-whom it may concern.'

Be it known that I, HECTOR RABEzzANA, a

subject of the King of Italy, and a residenty of Flint, county of Genesee, and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stenciling Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which 'the invention relates to make and use the same, reference being made therein to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to stenciling machines designed to apply a pattern, design or ligure, to an article by theuse of a stencil having anV opening or'openings therein corresponding with the pattern, and through which openings a suitable coloring medium may pass to the surface to be stenciled; and the object thereof is to provide an imp-roved stenciling machine designed to apply a trade mark or trade name, or equivalent identifying character or device to the porcelain or equivalent material insulating mem- 'bers of spark plugs in an effective manner, the design or figure being commonly app-lied to the insulating members before they are glazed so that the impression produced by the stencil appears under the glaze in the finished insulator after it had been tired. The particular condition or state of the insulators, however, is in no Way involved in the invention to which this present application relates; this present invention relating to and comprehending a machine which, as a matter of course, may be used in the stenciling of any kind of articles adapted to receive impressions from4 stencils and the form of which is such that the machine may operate upon them. l

The drawings accompanying and forming a part of this application illustrate the best form of my invention now known to me; although the invention Vmay be embodied in other particular structures, and the same is regarded as ,including all such variations e and modifications of the particular embodimentthereof illustrated and hereinafter described as come within the scope of the conand partly in section upon a vertical central plane, showing my improved stenciling machine and illustrating its intended use.

Figure 2 is a similar view showing the invention in plan.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary view showing certain parts of the machine upon a larger scale, and upon a vertical plane as in Figure 1.

Figure 4t is a view quite similar to Figure 3 as regards the parts shown, but in plan, and provided with arrows to indicate the directions of movement of the parts appearing in said view.

In the drawings the reference numeral 5 designates a suitable base or pedestal and 6 a. hollow housing or frame element or section secured tothe upper end of the base by means of cap screws 7, or otherwise, and to the upper end of which housing the lower end of a table section is secured as by means of similar screws 8; the said last named section comprising a lower tubular portion 9 of some little length, and an upper substantially flat portion 10 having a peripherally extending trough 11, as is usual in machine tables. A

Rotatably supported by ball or equivalent bearings 12, 13, 14: carried by the table section is a vertically arranged -hollow sleeve or shaft 15 having a tiange 151 at its upper end; and which shaft is driven by a worm wheel 16 secured upon its lower end, which in turn is driven by a worm 17 supported in bearings provided in the frame member 6 and meshing with said worm gear.' Inasmuch as a driving gear has to be provided for the said shaft 15 within the frame section or housing 6 the worm gear 16 is shown as secured to the hub of a bevel gear 18, which gear in turn is secured to the lower end of the shaft 15; although as a matter of coursethese two gears may be entirely separate from one another and independently secured to the shaft in question, should such a construction be deemed preferable or necessar Secured to the flange 151 is an annular horizontally disposed carrier or head 19 having a series of spaced apart lower and upper bearings 20, `21 located adjacent and regularly arranged about its periphery; twelve such pairs of bearings being present in the particular machine illustrated. These pairs of bearings support `a corresponding number ofverti'cal shafts or spindles 22, which carry orsupport the insulating member to be stenciled, as shown in Figure 1, each spindle having a pinion 23 secured thereto and located between the bearings for the shaft in question; and a lsingle gear 24 meshes with all these pinions so as to rotate all the shafts, as well also as the insulators supported by their upper ends, at one and the same time. This gear 24 .is secured to the upper end of a vertically arranged shaft 25, which is rotatably supported within and extends through the hollow shaft 15 aforesaid, as by ball 0r equivalent bearings 2,6, 27 at its upper and lower ends; and a worm wheel 28 is secured to the lower end of said shaft and act-s to drive the same to thereb7 rota-te the several spindles aforesaid as will be appreciated. The worm wheels 16 and 28 are obviously both located within the hollow housing 6; and said last mentioned gear is driven by a worm 29 which, o

like the worm 17, is supported in suitable bearings provided for it in the said housing or frame. The lower end of this housing 6 is shown as closed by a plate 61,'the periphery of which is held between the lower end of the housing and of the upper end of the pedestal 5, and which plate serves as a support for the lower bearing 27 above referred to.

Resting upon the carrier 19 is a cover 30 insulator supporting member which serves as an immediate support for the insulator carried by the shaft; and which member is shown as having a hollow tubular portion 32 fitting over the end thereof so as to rotate therewith and which tubular portion fits loosely within its opening in the cover 30, a depending petticoat 33 surrounding the flange 31 so as to prevent water from running through the openings in the cover and into the interior of the carrier where the gearing for rotating the spindles and the insulator supporting members is located,

and having also an upwardly extending pin 34 upon which an insulating member to be stenciled may be placed; the'insulating members when they reach the machine to which this invention relates 4having been already provided with axially extending passages of approximately the same diameter as the pins 34, so that when said members are placed upon the insulator supports the friction between the parts will be sufiicient to insure rot-ation of the insulators at the same speed as that at which the spindles 22 are driven. As will hereinafter appear nothing but a spray of liquid carrying a suitable pigment touches the insulating members at any time, and no conv siderable driving force has to be communicated to said members; the friction due toj the weight of the insulating membersv be-f l. .f ing, in fact, sulieient to insure their being free end, and within which last lmentioned ybearing an adjustable tubular sleeve 38 is secured; said sleeve having ball or equivalent bearings at its upper and lower ends, at 39, 40, wherein an angularly arranged shaft' 41 is .rotatably supported, said shaft being driven from the bevel gear 18 through a pinion 42 in mesh therewith. This pinion 42 is carried by a short horizontal shaft43 rotatable in a bearing provided for it in the housing 6, and the same is operatively connected with the inclined shaft 41 through a suitable universal oint 44, which is shown as enclosed within asuitable casing 45.

Secured to the upper endof the shaft 41 so as to be driven thereby is a rotating inclined stencil wheel 46 having a plurality of stencils spaced about the rim 0r periphery thereof six stencils designated by the numerals 47 being used in the embodiment of my inventionillustrated and herein described. The speed ratio of the gears 18, 42 being two to one, it therefore follows that when the machine is properly adjusted the stencils 47 and insulators carried by the pins 34 will move alongside and close to one another at the place where the peripheries of the carrier 19 and stencil wheel 46 approach the closest to one another.` These two members rotate in opposite directions so that the stencils and the insulating members travel in the same direction as they approach and move alongside one another, the insulating members and sten- 4cils being assumed to be moving away from the observer at the time when they are closest together and moving alonside one another in the machine illustrated.

The stencils 47, the spindles 22 and the insulators carried thereby, therefore move as such velocities, and the speed at which the said spindles and insulators are rotated by the-gear 24 and pinions 23 is such that rolling.v

of the stencils and of the surfaces of the insulators upon which the pattern of the stencils is placed relative to one another,

similar in I all respects to the rolling between a gear and a pinion with which it meshes, occurs when the machine 1s 1n operation; so that blurring of the figure produced by the stencil upon the insulator,dne to difference in rate of movement between the stencil and insulator surface printed upon, Will be obviated or reduced to a neg ligible amount.

The stencil Wheel and carrier have necessarily to be positively and definitely geared together in order that the insulators and the stencils will come opposite one another as said elements rotate, and when the stencils and insulators are at the inner adjacent portions of said elements, and this is accomplished by the gears 18 and 42 .in vmesh with one another, the worm 17 being in factthe driving member so far as Acarrier and sten-I cil Wheel ,46 are concerned. Thls Worm,

however, is itself driven through a suitable belt or equivalent member from the Worm 29, which la'st mentioned Worm is driven1 from an electric motor 48 of .any suitable type through a belt 49; thisarrangement providing a convenient and effective speed reducing scheme for the motor and an arrangement Whereby the high speed necessary.

at the spindles 22 is readily secured;

A spray of a stenciling liquid, such, for

example, 'as a suitable pigment dissolved or held in suspension in Water is produced by a nozzle 50 to which suitable air and liquid supply conduits lead, which spray is directed against the inner sides of the stencils and passes through the openings therein and thus reaches the surface of the insulators to be stenciled. In practice the greater part of the total volume of atomized liquid is arrested by perforated bafIie plates 51, 52; the latter being shown as provided by' an end Wall of a'casing or hood 53 Within which the atomizing nozzle is located. The nozzle is shown as supported from the bracket 36 as a matter of convenience although the manner of. supporting the nozzle, as Well also as thenumber and arrangement of the intercepting baiiies, are matters of secondaryv importance not involved in my invention.

Such atomized stencilingcliquid as does not pass through the openings in the` baffles 51, 52 runs down the bottom of the hood 53 and returns through apipe 54 to'a storage tank 55 from which the same is returned to the nozzle 50 by a suitable pump; and a tively largesurface, it Will be appreciated that the stencils may be of various forms to produce various iigures or designs, and may be of such length, circumferentially of the stencil Wheel, that the`v resulting figure .Will extend throughout the entire circumference ofthe articles stenciled; and that a film of liquid covering the entire articles operated upon may be applied thereto by making the openings inv the stencil Wheel of such size as to permit the sprayed `material to impinge thereupon While they are rotated throughout an entire rotation by the spindle driving mechanism hereinbefore described and explainedg Having thus described and explained my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1.111' a stenciling machine, la rotatable carrier; `means for supporting a plurality of articles to be -stenciled in spaced relation With one another about the periphery of said carrier; -a' unitary rotatable stencil Wheel formed as a single substantially rigid structure and the periphery of Which'moves adjacent articles to be stenciled carried by said carrier; a pluralit of stencils carried by and held in fixed re ation to, and spaced about the periphery of said stencil Wheel;

means for supplying a stenciling material to said stencils; and means for rotating said stencil -Wheel and vsaid carrier at definite speeds relative to one another.

2. In a stenciling machine, a rotatable carrier; a plurality of spindles'carried by said carrier and rotatable in bearings located adjacent the periphery thereof, and which spindles are adapted to support articles to be stenciled; means for rotating said spindles; a rotatable-stencil Wheel comprising a unitary substantially rigid structure the periphery of which moves adjacent articles to be stenciled supported by said spindles; a plurality of stencils fi-xedly secured with' each spindle, and which members am adapted to support articles to be stenciled;

35 `plurality of vertically .arranged spindles pinions carried one by each of said spindles; a rotatable gear wheel arranged Within said carrier and adapted to engage the pinions aforesaid to thereby rotate said spindles; a rotatable stencil wheel the periphery of which moves adjacent articles to be stenciled supported by said spindles; a plurality of stencils carried by and spaced about the periphery of said stencil wheel; a nozzle arranged to discharge against said stencils; and means for rotating said stencil wheel and said carrier at definite speeds relative to one another.

4. In a stenciling machine, an annular carrier rotatable about a vertical axis; a plurality of vertically arranged spindles carried by said carrier and rotatable in bearings located adjacent the periphery thereof; supporting members whereby articles to be stenciled may be supported one by each spindle above the upper end thereof; means located within said annular car,

rier for rotating said spindles and the articles carried thereby; a lrotatable stencil wheel the periphery of which moves adjacent articles to be stenciled supported by said spindles; a plurality of stencils carried by and spaced about the periphery of said stencil wheel; a nozzle arranged to discharge against said stencils; and means for rotating said stencil wheel and said carrier at delin'te speeds relative to one another.A

5. In. a stenciling machine, a rotatable annular carrier; a vertically arranged tubular shaft whereby said carrier is carried; a

supported by said carrier and rotatable in bearings arranged adjacent the periphery thereof, and which spindles'are adapted to support a correspond ng number of articles to be stenciled; a rotatable shaft extending through said tubular shaft and provided with means located withinysaid carrier for simultaneously rotating all of said spindles and the articles to be stenciled carried thereby; a rotatable stencil wheel the periphery of wh'ch moves adjacent articles to be stenciled carried by said spindles; a shaft whereby said stencil wheel is supported and driven; 'a plurality of stencils carried by.

andV spaced about the periphery of said stencil wheel; and means for simultaneously driving the three shafts aforesa'd.

6. In a stenciling machine, a vertically arranged hollow shaft rotatable in suitable bearings; acarrier secured to the upper end of said shaft and rotatable therewith; a plurality of vertically arranged spindles carried by said carrier and rotatable in bearings located adjacent the periphery thereof; supporting members one at the upper end of each of saidlspindles and which members are adapted to support articles to be stenciled;

inions secured one to each of said spindles; a shaft extending through the hollow shaft charge against said stencils; and means for j driving said three shafts at proper speeds relative to one another.

7. In a stenciling machine, a hollow frame or housing; a tubular member secured to said housing and extending upwardly therefrom; a rotatable tubular shaft extending through said tubularmember and into said housing; an annular carrier secured to the upper end of said tubular shaft and having a plurality of rotatable spindles adapted to support articles to be stenciled; a rotatable shaft extending through said tubular shaft and into said hous'ng; means at the upper end of said shaft for rotating said spindles; a rotatable stencil wheel the periphery of which moves adjacent articles to be stenciled supported by "said spindles; a plurality of stencils carried by and spaced about the periphery of said stencl wheel; a shaft whereby said wheel is carried; gearing located within said housing and whereby said three shafts are driven; and means for supplying a stenciling material to said stencils.

8. ln a stenciling machine, a hollow frame or housing; a tubular member secured to said housing and extending upwardly therefrom; a rotatable tubular shaft extending through said tubular member and into said housing; a worm wheel located' within said housing and operatively connected with said tubular shaft; an annular carrier secured to the upper end of said tubular shaft `ano. having a plurality of rotatable spindles adapted to support articles to be stenciled; a rotatable shaft extending through said tubular shaft and intolsaid housing; a second worm wheel located withinsaid housing and operatively connected with said second shaft; means attheupper end of said second shaft' for rotating said spindles; an inclined rotatable stencil wheel the periphery of which moves adjacent articles toA be stenciled carried bysaidspindles; a plurality of. stencils carried by and spaced about the periphery of said stencil wheel; a shaft Kwhereby said wheel is carried and which -one to drive each of said worm wheels;

means for driving said worms; and means for supplying a stenciling material to said stencils. y

9. In a stenciling machine, a rotatable carrier; means for supporting a plurality of articles to be stenciled in spaced relation with one another about the periphery of said carrier; a unitary rotatable stencil wheel formed as a single substantially rigid structure and the periphery of which moves adjacent articles to be stenciled carried by said carrier; a plurality of stencils carried by and spaced about the periphery of said stencil wheel; means for supplying a sten-` ciling material to said stencils; a Washing tank containing a liquid through which said stencil wheel moves; and means for rotat-. ing said stencil wheel and said carrier at definite speeds relative to one another.

10. In a stenciling mach'ine,a horizontally arranged rotatable carrier; a plurality of4 splndles carried by said carrier and rotatable in bearings located adjacent'the periphery,

thereof, and which spindles are adapted to support articles to be stenciled; means for rotating said spindles; an inclined rotatable stenciling wheel, the periphery 'of which moves adjacent articles to be stenciled supported by said spindles; a plurality of stencils carried by and spaced about the periphery of said stencil Wheel; a Washing tank containing a liquid through which the periphery of said stencil Wheel moves; means for supplying a 4stenciling liquid to said stencils; and means for rotating said stencil Wheel and said carrier at definite speeds relative to one another.

ll. In a stenciling machine, an annular carrier rotatable about a vertical axis; a

plurality of vertically arranged spindles aforesaid to thereby rotate said spindles; av

rotatable stencil Wheel inclined relative to said carrier and the periphery of which moves adjacent articles to be stenciled supported by said spindles; a plurality of stencils carried by and spaced about the periphery ofrsaid stencil Wheel; a nozzle arranged to discharge against said stencils; a

washing tankA adapted to contain -a liquid, and the arrangement of which is such that the periphery "of-*said stencil Wheel passes through theliquid 'contained in said tank; and means for rotating said stencil Wheel and said carrier at delinite `speeds relative to one another.

In testimony whereof I allizt my signature.

HECTOR RABEZZANA. 

